Democracy by force

Spanish journalist Mariano Aguirre has written a new piece in OpenDemocracy.net on Michael Ignatieff (see my previous entry) with a hardhitting discussion of the problematic aspects of American democracy promotion efforts.

Aguirre raises some legitimate concerns about the failures of the American political system today and whether we really are in a position to preach about democracy to other countries, much less impose our model of it on them.

He also highlights the way democracy promotion is being used to support sinister political agendas. As Shakespeare said, the Devil can cite scripture for his purpose.